As the community's awareness of environmental issues increases, use of rechargeable batteries becomes more common. Such use of rechargeable batteries includes use in portable electronic products, small-size home appliances and remote-controlled toys, and the like. Batteries of different sizes are needed for different use requirements. Furthermore, the local laws of some countries may require the sizes of batteries to comply with a particular standard. For instance, the sizes of commonly used batteries are designated as C, D, AA and AAA based on a former standard issued by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI).
Chargers that can simultaneously charge rechargeable batteries of sizes C, D, AA and AAA presently exist. However, due to restrictions on spacing, structure, cost, and other various restrictions, these existing chargers have limitations regarding what types of batteries may be charged simultaneously. For example, in some existing chargers, four batteries must be charged simultaneously, regardless of whether the batteries are of the larger sizes (C or D size batteries) or the smaller sizes (AA or AAA size batteries). Typical “universal” battery chargers have multiple channels which can take multiple batteries of different sizes, but each channel is limited to catering for one particular size of battery.
Accordingly, there remains a need for a battery charger that addresses these and other shortcomings of existing battery chargers.